The latest Boeing and aerospace news, including updates about the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, 747-8 and 737, Airbus A380 and A350, the anticipated Boeing 797 and Boeing jobs and layoffs

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Meanwhile, Boeing has won orders for another 35 737s, and now has 903 gross orders for the year. It looks to top 1,000 orders for the third consecutive year. It remains to be seen, however, if Boeing will top Airbus again this year. It beat Airbus in 2006 for the first time since 2000. Airbus will update its 2007 order total, with last month’s tally, in a few days.

Still pending this year is a potential 100-plane order from Emirates — either the 787 or A350. This could be announced at the upcoming Dubai air show. Whoever wins this is likely to end the year on top, assuming the order is made and finalized before the end of the year.

Airbus had 109 orders as of Aug. 31 for the 250-seat A350-800 model and another 99 orders for the 297-seat A350-900.

Boeing this year has won 262 orders for the 787.

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UPDATE:

My story, part of which is below, should be posted soon.

The Boeing Co.’s 787 Dreamliner could be up to six months late, a well-regarded industry analyst warned Friday in a report that sent the company’s shares down sharply on Wall Street.

Boeing also may be unable to meet its projected 787 production rates, Lehman Brothers analyst Joseph Campbell said in the research note to clients.

“In our view, acknowledged challenges make it more appropriate for Boeing to say while they hope to stay close to schedule it is more likely that the program could slip by four to six months,” Campbell said in the report. “Boeing might also say that the production ramp-up currently planned may not be achievable.”

On a day when the Dow gained 140 points, Boeing shares fell $2.25 in trading Friday on the New York Stock Exchange. They closed at $102.25, well off their 12-month high of $107.83.

Campbell said he expects Boeing to provide updated information on the status of the 787 program ahead of the company’s third-quarter earnings report Oct. 24.

“We expect more frank commentary on or before the third quarter earnings release, which would likely push Boeing shares lower,” Campbell wrote. “Thus far, Boeing has been able to avoid any need to adjust earnings downward, but it is less clear that this can continue.”

Boeing has said before, and said again Friday, that it can still deliver the first 787 on schedule next May to All Nippon Airways of Japan. But senior company executives have acknowledged that schedule is at “risk” because of a lengthy delay in starting the 787 test flight program.

The 787 was supposed to fly in late August. But last month, in a conference call with analysts and media, program executives said the Dreamliner would not fly until sometime between mid-November and mid-December.

A growing number of industry observers, and even some of Boeing’s key suppliers, say it would be a miracle if Boeing can keep the program on track and meet that first delivery commitment. The first plane sits unfinished at Boeing’s Everett plant, even though it was supposed to be flying more than a month ago. Critical flight control software that runs just about everything on the plane and has more than 6 million lines of code is late from supplier Honeywell. An industry shortage of fasteners has slowed final assembly of the first plane. Workers in Everett also have fallen behind because of a lack of documentation of the work that was done by Boeing’s suppliers before large sections of the first plane arrived at Boeing’s factory.

Before the 787 can carry passengers, it must be certified by the Federal Aviation Administration during the upcoming test flight program.

Even before the current delay, Boeing had a very aggressive flight test program for the 787 of only about eight months. That was three months shorter than was needed to certify the 777, Boeing’s last all-new jet. To meet its May delivery goal, Boeing must now accomplish the same 787 certification tests in only about five months.

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